Video Memory & Single Monitor PCs

[MarkusFox]

So a while back I asked about upgrading from my Radeon HD 6850 and that in some games I had to run in a window to get good FPS (above 40).

So now I'm running into advertisements for graphics cards that have 2GB or more of video memory. That leads me to this next question.

For a 1920x1080 single-monitor gaming PC, does having a graphics card with 2 GB or more of video memory make any impact on performance when running games in fullscreen? Would I see more FPS, or would the additional memory only be useful for things like texture mods (Skyrim's HD texture packs for example)?

My current card hasn't changed since the last time I inquired about upgrades. Things look changed enough that it might be worth looking into again. Especially since people in my MMO teamspeak circles are asking me why I'm not playing fullscreen like they are (I cite FPS/performance hits).

 

[popatim]

I would think you'd get more of a performance hit windowed over full screen but..
Skyrims HD texture pack only uses 1.5gb iirc. 2gb would be nice for 1440 as there are only a few games that would like more than 1gb vram.

2gb might be a nice purchase to future proof your gaming but certainly not needed for single monitor gaming. If you're interested, wait for the 700 series to come out and drop prices on the 600's

 

[MarkusFox]

I would think you'd get more of a performance hit windowed over full screen but..
Skyrims HD texture pack only uses 1.5gb iirc. 2gb would be nice for 1440 as there are only a few games that would like more than 1gb vram.

2gb might be a nice purchase to future proof your gaming but certainly not needed for single monitor gaming. If you're interested, wait for the 700 series to come out and drop prices on the 600's

700? 600? What? Radeon HD 7700 series or something?

I've tested fullscreen FPS on one of my games with this card. 1920x1080 yielded 30~42 FPS. Windowed mode (approx 1280x1024) yielded 45~55 FPS. My theory is that less area to draw = less memory used to hold textures. Or in the same vein, smaller resolution textures used.

So.. What's this 600/700 thing? I'd like to be able to use an HD texture pack. My 6850 can't handle them in Skyrim,it makes the game choke and crash.

 

[gridironcj]

I would think you'd get more of a performance hit windowed over full screen but..
Skyrims HD texture pack only uses 1.5gb iirc. 2gb would be nice for 1440 as there are only a few games that would like more than 1gb vram.

2gb might be a nice purchase to future proof your gaming but certainly not needed for single monitor gaming. If you're interested, wait for the 700 series to come out and drop prices on the 600's

You're completely wrong on your vram statements. There are plenty of games that over 2gb on 1440p, so 2gb is not even present proof for 1440p or 1600p. Examples:

Crysis 3 uses approx 2.8gb with MSAA x8, a little less with x4.
Some BF3 maps use approx 2.2gb with MSAA x4.
Hitman Absolution averages near 3gb and hits 3.8gb on some missions with MSAA x8.
Far Cry 3 is about 2.3gb with MSAA x8.
Tomb Raider breaks 2gb with SMAA of any kind.

Shall I keep going? I don't play on 1920x1080 but I'm sure you'd hit close to or over 2gb with a game like Hitman Absolution. 4gb is present proof and 6gb is future proof for 1440p. Battlefield 4, Metro Last Light, Grid 2, Metal Gear Solid 5, Watch Dogs, so many new games will likely get close to 3gb and over at 1440p with high antialiasing.

 

[MarkusFox]

I would think you'd get more of a performance hit windowed over full screen but..
Skyrims HD texture pack only uses 1.5gb iirc. 2gb would be nice for 1440 as there are only a few games that would like more than 1gb vram.

2gb might be a nice purchase to future proof your gaming but certainly not needed for single monitor gaming. If you're interested, wait for the 700 series to come out and drop prices on the 600's

You're completely wrong on your vram statements. There are plenty of games that over 2gb on 1440p, so 2gb is not even present proof for 1440p or 1600p. Examples:

Crysis 3 uses approx 2.8gb with MSAA x8, a little less with x4.
Some BF3 maps use approx 2.2gb with MSAA x4.
Hitman Absolution averages near 3gb and hits 3.8gb on some missions with MSAA x8.
Far Cry 3 is about 2.3gb with MSAA x8.
Tomb Raider breaks 2gb with SMAA of any kind.

Shall I keep going? I don't play on 1920x1080 but I'm sure you'd hit close to or over 2gb with a game like Hitman Absolution. 4gb is present proof and 6gb is future proof for 1440p. Battlefield 4, Metro Last Light, Grid 2, Metal Gear Solid 5, Watch Dogs, so many new games will likely get close to 3gb and over at 1440p with high antialiasing.

Interesting... Though I don't play those and I don't think I'll ever get my hands on anything higher than 1080p for single-monitor gaming. I guess a 2 or 3 GB card is sufficient for Skyrim (the HD texture DLCs), Portal 2, Neverwinter, Star Trek Online, and Elder Scrolls Online (when it comes out later this year). Time to price hunt.